Gluten Free Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

By foodiva

Ingredients

• For the gluten free rough puff pastry
• 250 g gluten free plain flour (I used Dove’s Farm)
• 220 g unsalted butter, straight from the fridge
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp fine salt
• 100 ml cold water
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• For the custard
• 2 whole eggs (large)
• 4 egg yolks (large)
• 230 g golden caster sugar
• 4 tbsp cornflour
• 800 ml full fat milk
• 4 tsp vanilla extract

Details

Servings 12
Preparation time 90mins
Cooking time 120mins
Adapted from spoonshineblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Pasteis de nata are made from puff pastry, encasing a beautifully silky custard, which has been cooked and scorched on top. In the last few years, I’ve watched, salivating, as K has devoured more than a few of these in front of me (he felt suitably guilty!). But I always assumed that the blissfully flaky puff pastry that makes these pastries so special would be impossible to make gluten free. And my mantra is I’d rather not eat something at all than eat a pale imitation in gluten free form.

But then I started to wonder. After all, one of the main difficulties of working with gluten free flours is how brittle it makes the finished product, but brittleness is just what you want in a puff pastry! And then I found

for gluten free rough puff, and I decided I had to try. At the very least, I thought, the recipe seemed quick and easy to make, so I wouldn’t have wasted too much time if it turned out to be a total disaster!

And now, all I can think about is all the things I can make with puff pastry – that I never thought I would eat again. K’s already put in a request for his nan’s beef pie, and I’m already fantasising about strudel.  What will you be making with yours?!

Makes:

These beauties may take a little while to make, but boy is it worth it - you'll be swooning over deliciously flaky puff pastry encasing a delicately scorched custard before you know it.

Place the gluten free flour, xanthan gum and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add 70g of the butter, broken into chunks, and rub in until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Cut the remaining 150g of butter into chunks, and add to the mixing bowl, tossing them around with a table knife until they are coated in the flour mix. Do not rub them in – leave the butter as chunks!

Add the water and lemon juice to the mixing bowl, and stir the mixture with the knife to combine. When it starts to come together, use your hands to mould the mixture into a loose ball of butter-studded dough. Wrap it all in cling film and place in the freezer for 15 minutes to rest.

Once rested, remove your dough from the freezer, and place it on a well dusted work surface. Roll the dough out in one direction only (i.e. top to bottom, not side to side) until it is about 30cm long and 15 cm wide. You should be able to see the streaks of butter in a rather pleasing marble effect.

While your pastry chills down for the final time, make a start on your custard: Put the eggs, eggs yolks, cornflour and sugar into a saucepan and whisk to combine. Add the milk gradually, and continue to whisk until you have a smooth, lump-free mixture.

Place the pan on a medium heat, and stir continuously until the mixture thickens. As soon as the mixture starts to boil, take the pan off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Decant the custard into a medium sized bowl, cover with cling film to prevent a skin from forming, and store in the fridge to cool until your pastry is ready.

Once the pastry has chilled for the final time, remove it from the freezer, grease a 12 hole muffin tin, and preheat your oven to 180C.

Using your rolling pin, flatten each slice of pastry into a round roughly 10 cm across. Press it a bit with your fingers to make sure it won’t unravel when you try to pick it up, then press each round into your muffin tin.

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